The “Plain Old Telephone Service” (POTS) network was designed for voice calls only and transmission speed was limited to the rate calculated by Nyquist. A circuit is allocated for a telephone conversation regardless of whether all the 64,000 bits per second of bandwidth are being used or not. There became a need for more efficient use of bandwidth and greater transmission speeds. There has been a massive move to update transmission on telephone networks to use “fiber optic” technology and to find more bandwidth efficient ways of transmitting data. Modern VOIP technologies address the needs of efficiently making telephone calls over modern networks and the existing POTS network. Examples of these protocol technologies are “Simple Gateway Control Protocol” (SGCP), “Media Gateway Control Protocol” (MGCP), Megaco/H.248 and H.323.
The widening array of transport media available for voice and other types of communications has led to a proliferation of service providers. As a result, the quality and reliability of service is an important factor in distinguishing one service provider over another. Traditionally, service providers have addressed losses or other degradations in service on a reactive basis. For example, if a customer is having problems obtaining a dial tone when going off-hook, the service provider would wait for the customer to complain before dispatching a service technician to address the problem. However, even if the problem is fixed quickly and efficiently, the loss of service often leaves a more lasting impression than the prompt restoration thereof.
Unfortunately, the service provider has few tools in support of proactive remedial action which can be initiated before the customer complains about a deficiency in service. Accordingly, this invention exploits signaling message protocols used when customers make telephone calls controlled by a VOIP signaling protocol to provide such a tool.